Palestinian Authority Reacts To Prime Minister Netanyahu's Reelection

Transcript

DON GONYEA, HOST:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City today and pledged he'll act quickly to form a new coalition government - this after yesterday's parliamentary elections gave his right-wing Likud party a wider than expected win.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Elsewhere in the program, we have reaction from Israel and analysis of where U.S.-Israeli relations go from here. Now, for a Palestinian perspective, I'm joined by Maen Rashid Areikat, chief of the PLO mission here in Washington. Welcome to the program.

MAEN RASHID AREIKAT: Thank you.

BLOCK: And first, your take on what the right-wing Likud victory in Israel means for any prospects of reviving peace talks.

AREIKAT: Well, I think the most important thing here is what impact this victory will have on Israel and the Israeli people. I think if this new government goes ahead with its pledges that they made before the election in terms of opposing a Palestinian state - it means that the Israeli people will continue to search for that elusive peace with the Palestinians and they will not be able to find it.

BLOCK: Do you take Prime Minister Netanyahu at his word with what he said leading up to the elections - that he is reversing himself and saying there would be no Palestinian state while he is in charge?

AREIKAT: Well, I think the only way we can judge - the same we did in the past - is judging him by his actions. And Prime Minister Netanyahu did not take any substantive step to show the Palestinian people that he is serious about ending his occupation of the Palestinian people and reaching a political resolution to the conflict.

BLOCK: But Netanyahu also warned that if he was not reelected, that Hamastan, in his words, was going to be established. Isn't that fear of Hamas a realistic one from the Israeli side? The Palestinian president is in a government that recently allied with Hamas, a group that fires rockets into Israel, says Israel doesn't have the right to exist.

AREIKAT: Well, first of all, this is part of the warmongering and fear mongering, you know, exporting the culture of fear to the Israeli people. Israel always creates an enemy, you know? In the past, it was the PLO. Today, it's Hamas. They always point to enemies, imaginary and real sometimes. This is - this is a political issue here.

BLOCK: Well, I think from Israel's perspective that is a very real, I mean, not an imaginary one at all.

AREIKAT: I did say - I did say - I did say imaginary and real. You know, sometimes they exaggerate the threat against them. Don't forget that Israel is the strongest military power in the region. And they have the military means to defend themselves and attack others at will and without any hesitance.

BLOCK: But, of course, Israelis say they need a total cessation of hostility and complete security guarantees, which Hamas is opposed to.

AREIKAT: Reach a resolution to the conflict - that's my answer to them. As long as there is an occupation, as long as there is a siege of Gaza, as long as Palestinians are not allowed to move freely from and to their own country, how do you expect the Palestinians to just pretend that everything is normal? The only way we can stop all these cycles of violence is to reach a political solution.

BLOCK: Last year, we saw Sweden become the first EU member to officially recognize the state of Palestine. Will the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, be going to other European nations, other international bodies, to try to get recognized as a state?

AREIKAT: We did. You know, I mean, we continue to urge and encourage countries to recognize the state of Palestine. Sweden took a very, very significant step in that direction. Listen, you cannot prevent the inevitable. A Palestinian state will emerge, no matter what Prime Minister Netanyahu will try to do, no matter what extremists in Israel try to do. This is a struggle of a people who are yearning for freedom. They are only keeping the situation so volatile and tense, and it does not serve the interests of anybody in the region.

BLOCK: I've been talking with Maen Rashid Areikat. He's chief of the PLO mission in Washington. Thank you very much for your time.

AREIKAT: Thank you, ma'am. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.